A Winter Woods Beacon Quilt!

Last Friday I released my new Beacon quilt pattern in my shop, and it's been such a whirlwind few days that I didn't yet get a chance to blog the different versions of my Beacon quilt that I made while working on the pattern. I've made FIVE already and I love each one so much that I want to share each in their very own post!

I started with the Enchanted Voyage cover quilt when I released the pattern last week and today I want to share this Winter Woods version that I made with the gorgeous custom bundle that Fabric Stork curated and since sold out of in their shop. The Winter Woods bundle included all AGF prints designed by myself and fellow AGF fabric designers. I didn't get to include all of the prints in the bundle, but many of my favorites made it in. It's just so pretty!



It was impossible not to make a beautiful quilt with these fabrics! The combination of blues, gold and low volume print worked perfectly for the Beacon quilt pattern!

You can see in this photo of my Beacon quilt blocks that I swapped the gold floral for Bonnie Christine's Wandering with Doe print from her Open Road collection and I paid careful to the direction of that print when I cut my fabrics to be sure all the adorable little creatures were facing the right way. I love looking at each block made with these gorgeous Winter Woods themed prints and picking out my favorite design details!



Once my blocks are all stitched together one of my favorite things to do is to snap that quilt top swirl pic and I especially love how the Beacon pattern looks when swirled!



I sent all five of the Beacon quilts that I made to Brooke at Lady Belle Fabric & Quilting to work her long arm quilting magic! For this version we chose an edge to edge design with a four-point star that looked to sparkle to me called Gemma and I think it's perfect for the theme of this quilt!



When I get to have a quilt finished by Brooke it adds another beautiful layer of design and artistry to my quilts, it's so special! Which is why I'm having a Giveaway on my Instagram for those of you who've purchased my Beacon quilt pattern to have a chance to have your Beacon quilted by Brooke, as well! You can enter thru today (12/4) by clicking the image below!



I bound this Winter Woods version in another Bonnie Christine print, a warm and rustic plaid from her Lambkin collection, Wooly Umber, that I love so much!





Up next I plan to share the Merry & Bright Beacon I made, a very cheery & classic Christmas version that I've decided to keep for our family! After all, I have dreamt of making a Christmas quilt for us since I began quilting nearly ten years ago!

Both my Enchanted Voyage Beacon and this Winter Woods Beacon are available for sale in my shop with Free Shipping, where you can find the Beacon PDF pattern to make your own and lots of other newly added handmade goodies, as well!

xo Maureen

It's Beacon Quilt Pattern Release Day!

My Beacon quilt pattern is now available in my shop! AND it's 25% OFF now thru Cyper Monday 12/2!!

First up, a little bit about it's name!

When you look up the definition of Beacon you'll read in it's meaning "a fire or other signal for guidance; a source of light of inspiration." It's this part that made me choose this word to name my new quilt pattern, Beacon. This year has been a very tough one for me with lots of health issues, a couple bad injuries and some personal struggles that I'm still working through, but now that I'm mostly on the other side of all of that, I can look back with gratitude for the solace quilting brought and continues to bring me. For me, quilting is something that I trust, it feels safe and therapeutic, is uplifting and motivating. So, for my very first quilt pattern on this new journey of offering my quilt patterns for sale, Beacon feels like a pretty perfect beginning!



My Beacon Quilt Pattern is a beginner friendly, downloadable PDF pattern including instructions to make a 60" throw size quilt. It's an easy-to-piece quilt made using pinwheel variation blocks with fabric placement of the background colors that creates a secondary pattern. It's chain-piece friendly making it super fast and very fun! I've already made FIVE versions, all of which I'll share in details in the days ahead, but since I chose my most recent fabric collection, Enchanted Voyage, to make my cover quilt, I'm starting with this beauty today!



All five of the Beacon quilts that I made were long arm quilted by Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric & Quilting and she always does such an incredible job! I love that I can pick a digital quilting pattern from her catalog of designs and it adds another layer of design and artistry to my quilts!



I bound this Enchanted Voyage version in my North Star Shine print, a pretty peachy cantaloupe color that I love so much!



To see more variations you can follow me on my Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/maureencracknell/ where I share the most these days, PLUS you can check out #BeaconQuilt to see the Beacon quilts made by my amazing testers!

I'm also so excited to share that I've been collaborating with two different shops to offer a variety of Beacon Quilt Kits!

The cover quilt that features my Enchanted Voyage fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics is available as a kit at Lady Belle Fabric, as well as additional kits for versions made using the Merry & Bright Collective by select designers including myself for AGF and the Holiday Magic version that I made for Brooke with the Holiday Magic custom bundle available only in her wonderful shop!

For those of you who snagged the Winter Woods bundle by Fabric Stork, I'll have a Beacon to share using that Winter Woods Bundle and Nuria of Fabric Stork also made her very own Beacon with Sharon Holland's new Spirited collection that is SO stunning and will be available as a quilt kit only at Fabric Stork!

But first, you NEED this pattern! So head to my shop and grab the pattern while it's on sale for 25% OFF!



After the holidays, in early 2020, I have a Beacon quilt-along planned that will be full of fun and prizes, but I wanted to offer this pattern in time for making for the holidays because it's that fast that you could totally get one done in time to gift or use!



I sincerely hope you love this pattern as much as I do! I cannot wait to see all the beautiful Beacon quilts to be made, so be sure to tag me and use the hashtag #BeaconQuilt when you share!

xo Maureen